I want my books to sell, to be read. I'm not interested in being obscure. Vikram Seth More Quotes by Vikram Seth More Quotes From Vikram Seth I don't want to talk too much about the nitty-gritty of writing. It's rather like a pressure cooker with a certain amount of pressure in it - the more you let out, the less you cook. Vikram Seth youpressurewantwriting After 'A Suitable Boy,' I didn't write anything, not even a short story. I thought to myself: 'I ought to start writing.' But I can never force myself to write. Vikram Seth shortboystartmyself If somebody writes clearly, you can pretty much tell immediately if something is shallow or deep, whereas if they write with all this duckweed on the surface, you can't tell if the stream is one inch deep or a hundred fathoms. Vikram Seth deepprettysomethingyou Of course, I have to consider that I've written a lot of prose, but I do in my heart think of myself as being originally, and still primarily, a poet. Vikram Seth beingmyselfthinkheart The fact is that at different stages of your life, and under the influence of different inspirations, you write different things. The point is not necessarily to find your voice, which grinds out the same sort of thing again and again, but to find a vehicle for people who are far more important than the author: the characters. Vikram Seth youvoicelifepeople If I'm compelled to do something, I don't shy away from it simply because I haven't tackled it before. Vikram Seth awaysomethingbecauseshy The trick to being a novelist is to act like an iceberg. Make it seem as if you're displaying only one-tenth of what you know, and the other nine-tenths isn't visible and never mind if that part is pure styrofoam! Vikram Seth neverknowyoumind I am careful about fiction. A novel is not a tract or an essay. If I want to write about land reforms, or Hindu-Muslim relations, or position of women, I can do it as it affects my characters as in 'A Suitable Boy.' I could only write about issues specifically through essays. But I'll do that only if I have something worthwhile to say. Vikram Seth boyi-amwomeni-can I don't read as much as people may expect. In fact, sometimes I feel that I should probably read more, but then I do believe that one of the big problems of our times is that there's too much reading and not enough thinking. Vikram Seth feelbelievepeoplethinking Too many trees are killed to print the words of people who may not have all that much to say, and authors and journalists are equally culpable in this regard. Vikram Seth treeswordssaypeople If you were to ask me to pick my favourite author, well, there are so many of them, I'd really just have to say the first names that came to mind, and I'm sure that I'll later think 'Oh, I should have mentioned that one.' Vikram Seth thinkmeyoumind
